G.B. Cipriani inv. F. Bartolozzi sculp.
[n.d. c.1776.]
Etching with engraving. 158 x 102mm. 6¼ x 4". Cut nearly to image, slight foxing.
Ticket. The Birth of Venus; Venus standing naked in front of the sea combing her hair with her fingers. Two birds above the over and two putti seated at each end of the console holding masks. Ranelagh Gardens, adjoining the Wren's Pensioner's Hospital, became popular as a place to escape the city and take in the cleaner air in Chelsea. Balls, concerts, dinners and of course gossip were shared here almost daily. It quickly exceeded Vauxhall in popularity, but it's popularity waned until the season of 1804 when the fashionable set abandoned it entirely.
De Vesme: 1957; ii/iii. See 20538 for later state.
[Ref: 20539]  £240.00